Silver Creek High will say goodbye to band director at graduation

Teacher moves to middle school to reduce hours, spend more time with family

By Whitney BryenLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
05/18/2013 09:46:21 PM MDT

Updated:
05/19/2013 09:00:50 AM MDT

Silver Creek High School band director Jay Clanin prepares the band Friday for their performance at commencement. After six years at Silver Creek, Clanin is leaving to become the band director at the new Timberline K-8 school. (Lewis Geyer/Times-Call)

LONGMONT -- Silver Creek High School seniors are not the only ones facing a bittersweet graduation Saturday.

The school's band director of six years, Jay Clanin, will lead his last performance with the school at graduation.

Clanin said the students and parents at Silver Creek have become like family, but it's his family at home that is the reason for his move.

"I guess what's tough about my current situation is that if I didn't have kids I'd be happy, the job would be right where I've been working to get for 15 years," Clanin said. "But the reality is, I have kids, and that's a responsibility that I have to put above everything else."

This fall, Clanin will become the band director for the new Timberline K-8 School, which will include students from Heritage Middle School and Loma Linda and Spangler elementary schools.

Clanin said he has been working at least 65 hours a week with the high school band and is looking forward to a little more down time to spend with his kids Evan, 8, and Mitchell, 3.

This year, Silver Creek had about 48 performances throughout the year and, right now, there are three performances scheduled at Timberline for next year, Clanin said.

Under Clanin's direction, the Silver Creek band performed several times at Disney World and in a St. Patrick's Day parade in Ireland, and it placed in numerous state and national competitions. But one performance seems to be the most memorable for the director and his students.

In October, the band's zombie performance was featured on an episode of the Travel Channel series "Making Monsters."

Silver Creek sophomore Zach Mullen said Clanin pushed the envelope in many of the shows, one of the many reasons Clanin is his favorite teacher.

Silver Creek High School band director Jay Clanin prepares the band Friday for their performance at commencement. After six years at Silver Creek, Clanin is leaving to become the band director at the new Timberline K-8 school.
(Lewis Geyer/Times-Call)

"He connected with us in a sarcastic and funny way that most teachers don't do," Mullen said. "He really built a lot of confidence in us because he put in as much work or more than we did."

Before coming to Silver Creek, Clanin worked at Centaurus High School in Lafayette, where he spent his days teaching and getting students excited about music.

As a high school band director, Clanin said, he spent a lot of time organizing and planning for concerts and only a few hours a day teaching.

"I'm excited to go back to my roots as far as why I got into this business in the first place," Clanin said.

The high school is searching for Clanin's replacement, who will have some big shoes to fill, not unlike Clanin's start at Silver Creek.

"I replaced a teacher here that was really well liked and my style was a little bit different, so I had a rough couple of years, which was a real big shock for me," Clanin said. "But I learned a lot from not being the popular teacher and having to kind of work my way through."

Zach's mom, Mindy Mullen, said while she's sad to see Clanin go, he is leaving a strong example for the students to follow.

"The biggest show of his character is his decision to make this move," Mullen said. "He said it was very hard, but this is an example of what it really means to be a father, a husband and a leader."

Silver Creek High School band director Jay Clanin prepares the band Friday for their performance at commencement. After six years at Silver Creek, Clanin is leaving to become the band director at the new Timberline K-8 school. (Lewis Geyer/Times-Call)

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